For a few years now we have been trying to grow potatoes at 1500 ft in Haiti. Our climate is quite mild and I see no reason in terms of climate that they shouldn’t grow but every time we try they grow to about 20cm and then just stagnate and eventually the top dies back. Under the soil we find dime sized potatoes. Last year we tried them in our best soil and nothing improved. Could it be too wet? Our drainage is good so I doubt that but I’m grasping for a solution here. What should I look for for the source of this problem?
Have you had a chance to check your soil for PH and other soil nutrients yet? Many tropical and sub tropical areas have acidic soils the some plant varieties don’t do well in. Soil amendments and adding an abundant of organic matter can help with that.
Rose. We need more information to answer this question. We are likely going to need pictures. There could be fertility or excessive acidity which often go together, blight, nematodes, droughty (lack of consistent rain or irrigation), planting too deep, fusarium, etc. And we need to know if the top dies back a little at a time as per blight or completely and how long before the top dies back which if the potato has run a normal crop cycle could be a natural process and therefore the problem is either nematodes, drought or fertility/acidity.
I’ll try to grow them again this year and take some pictures as they die back.
I have a couple of new clues though. First, I did a pH test on the spot that I was growing them in last year and it was 6.5 so pH seems to be fine. We’re blessed to be growing in karst soil. Second, one of our neighbours told us that years ago a foreigner brought in a variety of potatoes that would grow big potatoes but they have since lost them. All he’s aware of now is the little tiny ones that their currently growing. That make me think that disease might be a factor.
Also, I do have experience with potatoes in particular. We grew tons of them in Canada so this just mystifies me. It also rain a lot here (2.5m of rain annually) so drought isn’t a factor.